Stephen Lendman

From inception, America was never beautiful or democratic. Rich and powerful interests run things exclusively for their own benefit, ordinary people entirely shut out.

Secrecy and backroom deals substitute for a free, fair and open process. Candidates are pre-selected. Big money owns them. Rare exceptions prove the rule.

Duopoly power excludes independents. Key outcomes are predetermined. Horse race journalism substitutes for discussing issues mattering most.

Voter disenfranchisement is rife. Millions of Americans are denied because of past criminal records, including innocent people wrongfully imprisoned, others for political reasons or offenses too minor to matter.

Half of eligible voters opt out because their needs aren’t addressed. Corporate interests run elections with rigged electronic ease.

Losers are declared winners - and not just for president. America’s electoral process lacks legitimacy, democracy pure illusion.

Capital’s divine right rules, “we the people” a meaningless figure of speech. Michael Parenti explained America’s system was designed to “resist the pressure of popular tides (and protect) a rising bourgeoisie's (freedom to) invest, speculate, trade, and accumulate wealth.

Adam Smith called it “the defense of the rich against the poor.” No universal standard regulates America’s voting process. States can set their own procedures and norms as long as they don’t violate federal laws.

A patchwork of 50 different systems runs things, facilitating electoral fraud, subverting democracy. Colorado’s delegate selection procedure excludes popular voting - giving new meaning to the term sham.

According to the Denver Post, state “GOP leaders canceled the party's presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.”

“Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists - leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.”

The stop Trump crowd rigged things for Cruz. He “ran the table…capturing all 34 delegates at…seven congressional district meetings…and the state party convention (last) Saturday,” said the Denver Post.

Trump blasted the outcome, twittering “(h)ow is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger - totally unfair!”

“The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!”

He accused his opponents of “crooked shenanigans…We should have won it a long time ago,” he said.

US elections are won the old-fashioned way - stealing them, denying voters their say through a free, fair open process.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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